


The Magic of the Season(s)

by MasukisJacket



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Autumn, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, The gaang being dumb teenagers, Winter, possibly??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26439775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MasukisJacket/pseuds/MasukisJacket
Summary: It's the beginning of fall, and Sokka is ecstatic about it. But Zuko, the kid who moved to their town last year and was an ass for a few months, apologized and then somehow got shoved into the gaang, is not pleased. Sokka is determined to show him just how amazing the season of fall can be, and also maybe falls in love with him along the way.Whoops.-The gaang throughout fall and winter, with a heavy focus on zukka. (Rated T for excessive swearing and occasional dirty jokes)
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	1. Early September

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first multichapter fic I've written in... a while.  
> I realized that I won't be able to experience fall or winter properly this year and got very sad so I decided to write this.. uh the first 2 chapters have nothing to do with fall but other than that this fic is purely me expressing my love for fall and winter and also zukka, enjoy  
> Btw I am not taking this fic seriously at all and it probably wont be that great, but hey.. I'm trying ;_;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too confident in this chapter but hey every fic's gotta start somewhere  
> I'm a little nervous abt starting a multichapter fic before I've even finished the outline but I have a lot of ideas for it, so I think I'll be fine

"Ah, September," Sokka said wistfully as he sat down at the lunch table.

"The month of school," Aang continued in a similar tone.

"I was gonna say the month where the weather stops being shitty, but that works."

"Are you kidding?" Zuko asked from beside him, no doubt getting ready to go on a dramatic rant. "Cold weather sucks! I barely got any sleep last night because it was so cold, and the assholes who own the apartment complex haven't turned on the boiler!"

"Did you just get more blankets?"

"Sokka, that would've required me to get up and leave the small amount of warmth that I had," Zuko said, as if this was obvious and made complete logical sense, which it did not.

"Yeah, but then you could've gotten the blankets and become even more warm," Sokka made the boi motion at him.

"You just have an unnaturally high cold tolerance."

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault you hadn't seen snow before last year."

"This is literally the stupidest argument I have ever heard," Katara said from across the table, taking a bite of the lunch she made herself that morning that looked pretty tasty compared to the cafeteria lunch Sokka got.

"Can I have some of that?" Sokka asked, almost giving her the famous Sokka Pout™ before remembering that she was immune.

"Maybe you should've made your own lunch," She told him, looking him straight in the eyes as she took another bite. Rude.

"Okay, but if he did that, he would've burned down your kitchen," Suki pointed out, making Toph cackle.

"I see your point, but I'm still not giving him this," Katara paused for a second, and then sighed. "But, if you ask _nicely,_ I'll make you a lunch tomorrow." It took all of Sokka's willpower to not jump over the table and pull her into a crushing hug.

"Thank you so much!" He said about a thousand times before Toph punched him very roughly in the arm. "Oww! Toph, my arm is still sore from my flu shot! You ass!"

"Maybe you shouldn't be so annoying," She suggested, as if he hadn't already tried that many times.

"I'm pretty sure that's impossible for Sokka," Katara said, getting a few chuckles and a very piercing glare.

"You guys are so disrespectful," Sokka shook his head. "Watch me never invite any of you to watch a show with me ever again."

"Oh, speaking of that," Zuko said. "I found a show on Hulu that looks pretty good, and I was thinking that we could watch it together."

"Tonight?" Aang asked, almost grimacing.

"Well, yeah, I'm busy tomorrow."

"Oh. I'm busy tonight," Aang frowned. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Zuko shrugged.

"Yeah, Suki and I are gonna be busy tormenting some kids at the park," Toph grinned, putting an arm around Suki.

"What she means is we're going to a dog park to competitively pet as many dogs as we can," Suki explained. It didn't sound too far off, Suki never backed down from a challenge and Toph had a knack for coming up with some crazy plans.

"And probably end up terrorizing some kids along the way."

"Sounds fun?" It came out more like a question than Sokka had meant it to. "Well, _I'm_ not busy, Zuko, so I can go along with whatever shockingly good show you've managed to find this time." He looked at Katara expectantly.

"... Yeah, I'll just leave you two to it," She said.

"Aw yeah, bro binge watching session scheduled!"

"Please do not call it that," Zuko facepalmed.

"Why not?"

"It's dumb."

"It is, in fact, incredibly intelligent and fitting for the situation!" Sokka's voice raised a few octaves. They bickered about it for the rest of lunch.

* * *

They ended up going to Zuko and Iroh's apartment with takeout in their arms and, against Sokka's will, tea. Even if he liked jasmine tea (it was really more like just _Iroh's_ tea) a lot. It wasn't fitting for takeout. (It was actually pretty good, but Sokka didn't say that.) And, even though he would never admit to it, Sokka did shiver upon entering the apartment complex. It was cold, even for him.

"Okay, so what is this show about?" Sokka asked, starting to eat his food as Zuko pulled up Hulu.

"I haven't even watched the first episode, so I'm not sure, but I think it's about an orphanage…? Something along those lines."

"Orphanage? Creepy."

"Orphanages are not inherently creepy, Sokka."

"Hey, in fiction, orphanages are _always_ creepy!" Sokka said defensively.

"I guess that's true," Zuko said, starting the first episode.

"Exactly."

A few minutes in, Zuko started talking again.

"It isn't creepy so far."

"We're 3 minutes into a 20 minute episode, things could still change," Sokka argued. "Although, these kids do look really happy. I'll be sad if something bad happens to any of them."

"Me too."

Near the end of the episode, something happened that made Zuko and Sokka lose their collective minds.

"Ahh!! What the fuck?!" Sokka yelled, covering his eyes. He peeked out from behind his fingers to see the protagonists having about the same reaction to a literal corpse.

"She's… Dead?"

"You didn't tell me this show was about child murder!"

"I didn't know!" Zuko defended, and was about to say something else when he looked back to the screen and shrunk backwards. " _HolyshitwhatinAgniisthatthing??_ "

"Oh, wow, I hate that," Sokka supplied helpfully.

"I regret all of this, that thing is pure _nightmare fuel,_ I am _disgusted,_ " Zuko buried his face in a pillow, and it made Sokka laugh, distracting himself from the show because _wow_ Zuko was not over exaggerating for once, that thing was awful.

* * *

They watched the entire show in one night, and it ended on a cliffhanger, because of course it did.

" _What?!_ " Sokka shrieked at the final frame. "No, that cannot be the end!"

"It is," Zuko said, incredibly unhelpfully.

"No, no, no, you can't just _give me_ a tragic backstory for the antagonist in the last episode and then have everything work out and then _end it!_ " Zuko just laughed at Sokka's outrage, and he really wanted to be mad at him, but how could he when he rarely got to hear Zuko laugh?

"It's, like, midnight right now," Zuko pointed out after he stopped laughing, and _huh._ It was.

"Aahhh, it's a Friday, we can stay up a little longer," Sokka waved him off.

"You're forgetting the fact that I have a shift in the morning."

"Oh. Right. Well. I guess I should get going then," Sokka deflated. He didn't want to leave, he was so happy just vibing in the dark with Zuko.

"Or you could stay?" Zuko asked, and hurriedly continued, as if that needed an explanation. "It's just, it's a little late for you to be going home, right? So it'd just be better for you to get picked up in the morning-"

"Dude, it's fine, I'll be happy to have a bro sleepover with you," Sokka smiled genuinely as Zuko groaned.

"You are the absolute worst," He shoved him, and Sokka shoved him back. It quickly escalated into a pillow fight, made infinitely harder (and funnier) by the fact that it was very dark and neither of them could see.

After they had thoroughly tired themselves out via smacking each other with pillows, they mutually agreed that they could both take the bed, because they were very comfortable in their own identities. Also because it was either that or the couch.

And Zuko was right. Even with the blankets, it was freezing. Sokka had to keep his legs in the exact same position so that he could keep them warm, which was very difficult for him to do. He even swore he was shivering.

So, naturally, the genius that he was, Sokka came up with an idea to stay warmer.

"Hey, Zuko?" Sokka flipped over, and Zuko did the same, so they were looking at each other.

"What?"

"I'm cold, so uh…" Sokka made some hand gestures even though Zuko couldn't see them. "Would you mind getting over here so I can, like, mooch off your body heat?"

"I'm cold too."

"Yeah, but you _feel_ warm as fuck, so come here," Sokka awkwardly pulled Zuko closer to himself, and almost couldn't hold back the satisfied sigh from the warmth he immediately got. It was even better once Zuko relaxed and put his arms around Sokka. Purely for warmth purposes, though.

Sokka was warm and happy now. He fell asleep with his head empty and heart full.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will not, in fact, name the show they were watching because I put in a bit more spoilers than I meant to.. hehe  
> But if you do know what show it is, then congratulations, you have good taste in anime


	2. Mid September

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boi first day of in person school since like march... oof  
> I'm at lunch rn, have a chapter in celebration of me somehow surviving hybrid

"Dude, you think if I combined the radioactive dudes and the explosive dudes they'd turn into nukes?" Sokka asked Zuko, who was only half paying attention to anything that was happening. Sokka was playing some game about ranches and slimes or some shit.

"Probably not," Zuko replied. His mind was elsewhere, namely, on his newly discovered crush on his best friend.

"Hm. That sucks," Sokka unnecessarily used his jetpack to get around faster for the fifth time.

See, it had all started that night that Sokka went over to his and his uncle's apartment. When they had to huddle for warmth because it was insanely cold for September that week. Yeah, it had warmed him up really nicely, but also made him feel like he was dying. He hadn't stopped replaying memories of Sokka smiling and being happy and laughing in his head ever since. And even though Zuko was a master of denying his own emotions and being oblivious, he really couldn't ignore it after that.

"But I'll never really know if I don't try it, right?" Sokka turned to him with a lopsided grin, almost as if he knew about Zuko's crush and was trying to kill him. It might work, considering how much his heart physically hurt whenever Sokka was being cute and/or stupid. Which was way too often.

"I guess," Zuko said, painfully aware that that was a dry and horrible response. Sokka bit his lip in concentration, which was weird since this game required very little concentration, and Zuko Did Not panic slightly over how cute it was.

He did not do that.

His crush made it harder to function around Sokka, which sucked quite a bit, since he would normally enjoy his time with him a lot. Now he just felt constantly on edge. Okay, maybe not necessarily on edge, but definitely nervous. Not relaxed.

"Zuko, are you even paying attention?"

"... No."

* * *

Aang was always a ball of happiness and energy and optimism, this was just a fact of life. But, when he sat down at the lunch table, he looked like he was about to burst with excitement.

"Aang, are you good? I can feel you vibrating from over here," Toph asked.

"I have to wait until everyone else gets here," He explained, tapping his feet on the floor.

"Well, you're in luck," Zuko pointed to Sokka and Suki walking over to them.

"Hey party people," Sokka grinned, seemingly in a very good mood as Katara rolled her eyes at him.

"Now that everyone's here, I have some news," Aang said, very seriously. "I got a cat yesterday."

"Really?!" Katara asked, her eyes lighting up. "Do you have any pictures?"

"I do indeed," Aang smiled, showing them a picture of a black and white cat with wide green eyes and big ears.

"He's adorable," Katara and Zuko said in sync. They had really bonded over their love of cute animals, after Katara got over the whole hating him thing.

"His name is Momo."

"Is he soft?" Toph asked. She loved Aang's dog, Appa, not only because he was the best boy in the entire world, but also because he was incredibly soft and she liked to pet him.

"Not as much as Appa," Aang admitted. "He's very energetic, and he _loves_ food."

"Are we gonna get to meet him?"

"I mean, if you want, but he bites… Hard," Aang showed a few marks on his hand.

"We should celebrate," Sokka said, lighting up in the way he always did when he had a good idea (or what he considered a good idea, anyway).

"The fact that Momo bites?" Aang raised an eyebrow.

"No, the fact that you have him," Sokka shook his head, and pulled his backpack off of the ground. "I say, we make some art at the park." He opened the backpack to reveal cans of spray paint.

"Sokka, where did you get those?" Katara asked.

"I'm very good at supplying things," Toph grinned.

"Why did you-? How-? What-? Okay…" Katara sighed heavily, putting her face in her hands.

"Why did you _already_ have those? Don't tell me you were planning to do this beforehand," Zuko gave Sokka a look.

"Maybe I was," He smiled sheepishly, and it was hard for Zuko to be mad at that. "But c'mon! We gotta have some fun and disobey the law at least once before we graduate."

"We literally have, like, two more years to do that," Suki said in an exasperated tone, but she was smiling.

"There's no time like the present," Sokka replied simply, and apparently that was the end of the argument, since all six of them ended up at the nearby park, looking at a giant wall that already had a few spray paint doodles on it, which seemed to have been scrubbed a little in a failed attempt to wipe them off.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Zuko muttered to Sokka, shaking up his can like everyone else was doing.

"Hey, I'm just making sure we have fun here."

"Vandalizing public property is not what I would consider _fun,_ " Katara scowled from the corner.

"You don't consider anything fun," Toph informed her, grabbing the rest of the cans of spray paint, leaving Aang empty handed.

"Hey!" He reached for a can, but Toph smacked his hand away.

"Uh uh uh, you should've been faster, Twinkletoes." Aang pouted in response to this. Suki seemed to take pity on him and handed him one of her cans.

"Thanks, Suki," He smiled and began spraying random shapes on the wall in white paint.

"Oh, we're starting?" Sokka looked bewildered for a few seconds, before starting to paint something himself. Zuko paused. He had agreed to this, but hadn't thought of anything to draw. He looked at what Toph and Suki were doing.

Toph was spraying random colors everywhere, which made sense considering she had no way of knowing if it would look good anyway, and the fact that she was Toph, a chaotic menace. Suki appeared to be doing something similar, but when he looked closer, her movements were more deliberate. She was still painting essentially nothing, but in an artistic(?) way.

Zuko was not inspired in the slightest, so he started painting the first thing that came to mind. Unfortunately, he had decided to look at Sokka right in that moment, who was sticking his tongue out in concentration, looking stupidly cute while doing so.

And that caused Zuko's mind to go right back to his crush, which made his hands move on their own and make a heart.

Once Zuko noticed this about two seconds later, he almost smacked himself in the forehead. How cliche could he get?! Well, it was too late now. He was resigned to getting made fun of for the foreseeable future by his friends, time to move again. He could try to cover it up and start again, but that would require him to ask for a different color and/or just wing it, and he kinda didn't feel like it at the moment.

Since he wasn't going to be drawing anything else, he stepped backwards. Luckily, the others seemed to be finished too, with the exception of Aang, who's seemingly random shapes were now forming something. Zuko didn't know what it was, but it was something. Suki's looked amazing.

"Wow," She mused, putting her hands on her hips. "Maybe I should start doing this more often."

"You probably shouldn't," Katara said, less mad now, although her tone was still stern.

"I was talking about art in general, calm down," Suki assured her with a wave of her hand.

"It's pretty abstract," Sokka nodded.

"How does mine look?" Toph asked, setting down her cans. Aang immediately seized one and started spraying with a bit more direction this time.

"It's not bad, actually," Zuko told her.

"Sweet."

"Um, Sokka?" Suki asked, clearly holding in fits of laughter, and clearly not succeeding. "What is yours supposed to be?"

"Momo, obviously!" Sokka said with a smile. "This whole thing was to celebrate him anyway."

"Okay, cause it really looks like you just drew a dick on the wall." This caused Toph to immediately burst out laughing. Zuko looked over at Sokka's painting, and yeah, it did look pretty dick-ish.

" _What?!_ " Sokka screeched, turning back to his creation with a horrified look on his face. "No, it doesn't!"

"It kinda does," Zuko piped up, earning him a glare. "I mean, the line-"

" _That is his tail!_ "

"And the circles-"

"Those are his _ears,_ it's perfectly clear!" Sokka gestured to the artwork wildly. "Your minds are messed up. What's so great about your art anyway, Zuko?" He pushed past him to get a look at his painting. "Oh my spirits. You…"

"Look, I came up with it on the spot," Zuko muttered, feeling his face heat up.

"You drew a heart?" Katara raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"A heart?" Toph asked, putting an unnecessary amount of emphasis on 'heart.' "Does that mean what I think it means?"

"It means Zuko's in _looooooove,_ " Sokka said in a teasing voice, making Zuko want to die.

"Really? Who is it?" Suki asked, her voice not teasing like the other two's, if not amused.

"Uhhh… I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Even Aang was getting in on this now. Zuko was seriously considering curling up in a ball and staying there for eternity.

"Well, I uh-" Zuko could not for the life of him think of a response, so he just looked down and crossed his arms, in a very mature and dignified way. Sokka burst out laughing.

"At least give us a few hints," Aang pleaded, and Zuko sighed.

"If it'll get you off my back, fine," He thought for a moment. How _does_ one talk about their crush when said crush was literally right there and also one of their best friends? "Uh, you know them… Pretty well? They're really nice, I guess. And um… Smart. I think." Good enough.

"Ooh, who's ready to theorize about who it is for months?" Toph rubbed her hands together and grinned.

"I'd prefer if you didn't…" Zuko muttered.

"Don't worry, we won't pry," Suki put a hand on his shoulder.

"But since we're your best friends, it is our duty to figure it out," Sokka laughed at himself. It was dumb and really stupid and Zuko really liked him.


	3. Late September

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's October babey!!! I was going to post this on the 1st but tbh I just forgot.. so yeah  
> October is my favorite month, and even if this is a September chapter still, I'll try to keep all the October chapters in October  
> From now on updates will probably be more sporadic since this is the last prewritten chapter, although ch4 is almost done  
> Anyway enjoy

Sokka stretched as he listened to Zuko's story. Was he fully paying attention to said story? No, but he was trying! It was just really easy to lose himself in the sound of Zuko's voice, and the cool weather, too. Everything was peaceful, which was a nice change from the hectic feeling of actually having assignments to do in school.

And that was when he spotted the tree.

"Zuko, look!" Sokka unashamedly interrupted the story in favor of grabbing Zuko's arm and pointing at the tree. "The leaves are starting to turn red!"

"I guess if you look hard enough," Zuko furrowed his brow at it, and went off course to get closer.

"Yeah, it's totally turning red! That means fall is soon!" Sokka was almost jumping.

"Calm down, Sokka. Why are you so… Excited?"

"It's almost fall!" Sokka grinned excitedly up at him, and Zuko rolled his eyes with a smile.

"It's September, it's literally already fall," He said, but Sokka shook his head.

"No, no, it's not truly fall until the leaves are all pretty and falling."

"Why do you like fall so much, anyway?"

"Why do I like fall?" Sokka repeated incredulously. " _Why do I like fall?_ Do you not like fall? Who are you?!"

"I mean, there's nothing really too great about it," Zuko crossed his arms. "The weather's nice, I guess, but I like spring better if we're just going off the weather. Winter has snow, too, which makes it better."

"Uh, Halloween?" Sokka was starting to prepare a list. Zuko didn't like fall, and this was absolutely unacceptable. He had to change his mind. "The leaves? Plus, this weather is beautiful!" Sokka emphasized his point with a very graceful twirl.

"The leaves are a good point of fall?" Zuko looked skeptical.

"Yes! Did you never do those… Leaf activities in elementary school?"

"... No."

" _What?!_ " Sokka was louder than he meant to be, but this was starting to get ridiculous. "The leaf activities are, like, the best part!" To his surprise, but not displeasure, Zuko started laughing.

"I'm sorry, the phrase 'leaf activities' is just so dumb," He managed to get out before starting to laugh again. It was a nice laugh, and it made Sokka want to laugh, too.

"Look, I didn't have any other way to describe them," Sokka did, indeed, start laughing.

They stood there laughing for a few minutes. He wasn't sure why, it just felt… Nice to stand there and laugh. Forget about life and relax.

"Okay, you got me. It is pretty stupid," Sokka agreed. "But when the leaves fall, we're definitely going to do all the leaf activities!"

"Sure. Sounds… Interesting, at the very least."

"It'll be the best day of your life, trust me," Sokka threw an arm around him. He was still really warm. His jacket was soft. He didn't remove his arm for the whole walk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty short, but hey it's the first actually fall related chapter so far  
> Also apparently I have to make Sokka yell "what?!" in an italicized manner at least once per chapter. We'll see if that holds true next time


	4. Early October

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna wait until tomorrow to post this but I got too impatient so here ya go! It's not technically early since I'm updating more often than schedule anyway, which will probably change at some point, but eh. It's kinda close?

"Remind me _why_ we're here this early, again?" Zuko asked, attempting to rub the tiredness out of his eye and failing.

"Because _everybody's_ gonna be buying decorations today! It's the first day of October, it's officially spooky season," Sokka dragged Zuko along, not usually a morning person but currently hyped up on a pumpkin spice latte. "Maybe if you got something at Starbucks, you wouldn't be so tired."

"Coffee is gross, Sokka," Zuko gave him a halfhearted glare. "It's a Sunday. We should still be asleep right now."

"I would normally agree with you, but like I said, we gotta get all the good stuff!" Sokka held Zuko's hand to drag him in, which caused his brain to start functioning even less.

They went into the store, the warmth making him even more tired. The place had a nice vibe to it, and had a vaguely autumn scent.

"Why is their Pride display still up? June was 4 whole months ago."

"I dunno. Guess they still need to sell everything," Sokka shrugged. "You gonna get anything?"

"No," Zuko said, slipping a small rainbow pin into his pocket.

"Okay," Sokka started walking towards an aisle all the way across the store. Zuko begrudgingly followed. Somehow, they did not end up anywhere near the fall/Halloween decorations, but instead near the art supplies.

"Why are we in here? I can't see anything we need," Zuko scanned the aisle a second time, and yeah, there was nothing fall-like about the stuff here. Had Sokka made a list? He really hoped so, but knowing Sokka, he didn't.

"We still need the paint," Sokka said, trying to carry multiple paint bottles and failing. He eventually sighed and put them in the cart. "They don't actually have that much Halloweenie stuff here, so we need to make it feel like Halloween."

"I hope you know how little sense that makes."

"Maybe to you," Sokka grabbed a few wooden letters from the shelf, and Zuko was too tired to figure out what he was going to spell with them. "Now c'mon, we need to get the leaf things that you hang in the window!" Zuko followed him once again, almost deliberately being slow. "Ooh, actually…" Sokka suddenly turned, and Zuko groaned. "We also need the crayons."

"Since when did we need crayons?"

"Since you agreed to do the leaf activities," Sokka told him matter-of-factly. "We need these for those. Apparently they're artist quality."

"I don't buy it," Zuko looked at the crayon package skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm the one paying for them," And okay, maybe that joke was funny. Maybe Zuko laughed, just a little bit. "Okay, _now_ we can go get the hanging leaf thingies."

And so they scoured the entirety of the store, picking up whatever Sokka deemed necessary, most of those things not actually for Halloween. Zuko didn't feel like arguing, especially not when Sokka looked so happy every time he found something he wasn't initially looking for but liked. Which was a lot.

In the end, Zuko helped him with paying for the stuff, because it was more expensive than Sokka had planned for. And he didn't mind. He got a chocolate out of it, so it was worth it.

"I did not enjoy that experience," Zuko sighed, carrying a bag full of various art supplies. He was less tired now, but the bag was still pretty heavy. "Actually, shouldn't we go get Halloween costumes while we're out?" Sokka just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Zuko, let me share with you a bit of advice," He said, patting Zuko's shoulder. "If your Halloween costume isn't last minute, it isn't good."

"That is literally so dumb."

"Besides, it's a tradition for our friend group to go shopping for Halloween costumes together," Sokka shrugged. "I know you don't really know that, considering you're relatively new. It's great."

"That makes more sense," Zuko nodded.

"Okay, how bout we get this stuff home?"

"How _do_ you plan to get home?" Zuko couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this beforehand. "Neither of us have our licenses."

"This is where the power of having cool dads comes in, my friend," Sokka smirked, pulling out his phone and dialing the contact number named "Lesser Dad." Apparently it was some sort of inside joke within the family. Zuko didn't get it, obviously.

"Hello?" Bato's voice came through the phone. "Sokka, why are you calling me? Aren't you usually asleep right now?"

"Heyyyy, Bato," Sokka said, and Zuko knew that tone of voice. It was the voice Sokka used when he thought he was being slick. "So, let's say, hypothetically, I went somewhere with Zuko."

"This early?"

"Yes, this early. And, still in a hypothetical scenario, we have a bunch of stuff to carry and we need you or Dad to come pick us up and drive us home." There was a few seconds of silence before Bato sighed.

"Fine. Where are you?" Sokka had a moment of triumph before answering.

Zuko was honestly impressed. He didn't know much about Sokka and Katara's dads, outside of the occasional offhand comment about them being grossly affectionate from Sokka every once in a while, but this left him with two ideas; 1. They were very cool and/or chill, as suggested by Sokka just a few minutes ago, or 2. Sokka pulled this so often that they were used to it. Both were equally plausible.

They only had to awkwardly stand outside of the store for about 5 minutes before a car pulled up. Sokka leaped towards it, and Zuko followed, not leaping but still quick. He did not have a very high cold tolerance, and his hair was longer than usual, so the wind was not ideal weather for him.

They set their bags in the middle seat between them. Bato eyed said bags with a very concerned expression.

"Sokka, please tell me you didn't spend all your allowance on decorations that we'll only have up for a couple months and won't even last until next year. _Again._ "

"Hey, to be fair, I didn't spend all my allowance on it. I just… Bought a lot more than planned," Sokka laughed nervously. "He helped me pay for it." Bato visibly relaxed at that.

"Good," He nodded, and started to drive again. "So, you must be Zuko."

"Um, yes, sir," Zuko was caught a bit off guard. He wasn't expecting to have to socialize with anyone other than Sokka this early.

Bato laughed, "No need for that 'sir' business. Just call me Bato."

"Uh, sorry." Sokka was looking at him sympathetically. The rest of the drive was awkward, to say the least. Nobody was talking. There wasn't any music either, just the sound of branches smacking the roof of the car every once in a while and the wind. It was a giant relief when they pulled into the driveway.

When they entered, Katara and Hakoda were collaborating on making breakfast, and ignoring them. It smelled pretty good, actually. Too bad Zuko wasn't hungry. Sokka set his bag down near the door, so Zuko did the same. It was a bit weird, but he was still pretty tired, so he didn't question it.

Nobody said anything, so the two of them awkwardly walked up to Sokka's room. Zuko flopped on the bed and sighed.

"That was awful."

"Eh, it wasn't that bad," Sokka shrugged, sitting next to him. "Just awkward."

"I'm allergic to awkwardness," Zuko said dramatically and yet also deadpan. "I'm dying now. My throat is closing."

"Oh no, whatever shall I do?" Sokka's voice dropped with sarcasm. "Get the Epipen?"

"Wait, do you guys actually have an Epipen?" Zuko sat up.

"Yeah, actually, Dad's allergic to…" His brow furrowed for a moment. "Something. Luckily, he hasn't needed to use it in a while."

"Hm," Zuko made a noise of acknowledgement. A few moments passed. "So what should we do?"

"Good question. Mario Kart?"

"Why not?"

And then Sokka got his ass beat at Mario Kart.

(It was pure luck, really. Zuko had no idea what he was doing.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that "Lesser Dad" thing is a deltarune reference. One of my friends said that maybe the reason lancer calls rouxls kaard his lesser dad is because rouxls is dating the king and I haven't seen that game the same way ever since.  
> This chapter got a lot longer than I initially planned. I just didn't have a good ending and it just kinda spiraled from there


	5. Mid October

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am posting this at 10:30pm because I have no semblance of patience or being able to wait  
> Oof this chapter took a while to write and came out really short uh.. sorry about that  
> Honestly life has been kinda hectic for me lately, and I've been feeling demotivated to write, but now I think I'm back in the game

"You don't get it, Zuko," Sokka said, trying to will Zuko to walk faster with his mind and failing. "This is the best thing you'll ever see."

"I really doubt that."

"How dare you doubt me," Sokka deadpanned. "This is the prettiest time of year, trust me."

"I feel like I shouldn't," Zuko started, then paused briefly. "But I will."

"Good choice. I know the best place to look at some pretty leaves." Sokka almost took the wrong path, but didn't. He wasn't the best at directions or navigating anything at all, even with living here literally his entire life.

He used his memory (and Google Maps) to find the nearby park. He hadn't been there in a few years, but he knew where the best spot was by heart. By the local memorial bench, but not on, since that one tall tree obscured the large grouping of trees that was basically the entire view.

"Zuko, close your eyes," Sokka said as they entered what was officially the park's entrance. Zuko gave him a bit of a skeptical look, and did not close his eyes. He looked like he did, but Sokka could see a tiny hint of gold in there. "No, I mean like actually close your eyes." Sokka sighed and put his hands over Zuko's eyes. Zuko yelped, but didn't say anything else after he relaxed again.

Sokka led him to the bench and removed his hands. Zuko rubbed his right eye and shot Sokka a dirty look.

"You pressed on my eye, now everything's blurry."

"Sorry," Sokka cringed, and looked at the trees. The view was a mixture of red, orange, and yellow. It made him feel warm and protected, although that could just be his thick jacket. It invoked a sort of nostalgia, and he looked over at Zuko to both see his reaction and make a witty comment, but his voice died in this throat.

Because Zuko had a look of pure awe on his face, a small smile on his lips. His eyes practically shone, looking even more golden than usual. He was beautiful, even more so than the colorful trees in the park.

Sokka could only think _Oh._ and continue to stare at Zuko. Zuko turned to him with the same expression, and Sokka's heart clenched at how cute he was.

"Wow," He sighed, and then the cute expression went away, a slightly confused and worried one replacing it. "Are you okay? You seem a little out of it."

"Hm?" Sokka shook himself out of it. "Yeah, I'm fine, just haven't gone here in a while. Forgot how good the, um, view is." He really hoped the blush he felt on his cheeks wasn't showing.

"It is a good view," Zuko nodded, although his suspicious look didn't entirely go away as he turned back to the trees, and Sokka reluctantly did the same.

* * *

After they got some ice cream (no matter how many times Zuko told him it was weird to get ice cream in fall) and went their separate ways, Sokka flopped on his bed and sighed.

Surprisingly, he wasn't freaking out, even though he really should've been. He had a crush on his best friend, which hypothetically should've been the most terrifying thing in the world, but it wasn't. Sokka knew that even if Zuko didn't like him back (the likely scenario), he was chill enough to not be mad and/or end their friendship. Because Zuko was nice, and understanding, and really just a good person overall and… Wow, Sokka really should've realized he liked him sooner.

He still wasn't sure what to do about it, so he texted Suki for advice. Said advice basically boiled down to "Literally everyone can see that you guys like each other, ask him out already." Sokka trusted Suki, but he also trusted his own instincts, and they were telling him two very different things.

So, he decided to give himself a little time before making a decision. Asking Zuko out wasn't a life or death thing (even if he got nervous just thinking about it), and he could wait. Even if he didn't want to. He could test the waters a little, maybe see if Zuko liked him back.

Naturally, his next course of action was to watch a bunch of Youtube videos from debatably unreliable channels about how to tell if your crush likes you back.

Y'know. For research purposes.

**Author's Note:**

> The update schedule for this fic is probably gonna be pretty inconsistent, but I'll try to update at least once a week. No promises, school can be pretty hectic, but I'll try  
> Also my twitter is @noelleholidays. Just in case you were wondering. You won't find much over there


End file.
